RICHMOND, Va. — As they prepare for retirement, Charles “Chuck” and Carol Weaver have sold their Tidewater Convenience chain of convenience stores to Global Partners LP.
Richmond, Va.-based Tidewater owned and operated 14 fuel and convenience-retail stores and one commission-marketer location throughout the Norfolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach areas of Virginia.
“It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve the people of Hampton Roads by providing motor fuel and other products for the past 30 years,” Chuck Weaver said. “We are very thankful for the many talented people who helped build Tidewater Convenience into what it is today.”
Tidewater Convenience Inc. was incorporated in 1992 by Weavers when they acquired two Texaco stores in Virginia Beach. The company experienced steady growth through the 1990s and 2000s as the business expanded with up to 17 convenience locations at one time. Chuck and Carol Weaver have remained hands-on operators throughout their more than 30 years of ownership.
Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc., an independent investment bank based in Baltimore, provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Tidewater, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale process, and negotiation of the transaction. The transaction was managed by Cedric Fortemps, co-head of Matrix’s Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Investment Banking Group, and Martin McElroy Jr., senior associate.
“When Carol and I agreed that it was time to retire, we knew that we could rely on Matrix to find the next steward of our business,” Chuck Weaver said. “We are very satisfied with the result and know that Global Partners will continue our legacy of delivering high-quality service in each of our locations.”
“The timing was right for them to sell,” Fortemps said. “We are extremely happy for them, as well as all the Tidewater employees that will be joining the Global Partners team.”
Mark Cosenza, senior vice president for gasoline, distribution and station operations at Global Partners, said, “We are committed to continuing to expand by adding strategic locations to our vertically integrated network. Virginia is a key market that complements our existing portfolio."
With approximately 1,700 locations primarily in the Northeast, Waltham, Mass.-based Global Partners is one of the region’s largest independent owners, suppliers and operators of gasoline stations and convenience stores. Global also owns, controls or has access to one of the largest terminal networks in New England and New York, through which it distributes gasoline, distillates, residual oil and renewable fuels to wholesalers, retailers and commercial customers.
- Global Partners is No. 26 on CSP's 2022 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by number of company-owned retail outlets.
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